5. Atmospheric Temperature

Front 1

The air temperature at any place is determined by...

Back 1

(1) radiation and heat transfers between the surface and the air above, (2) the location relative to a large body of water, and (3) the movement of vast pools of air called air masses.

Front 2

the immediate source of energy to heat the air is...

Back 2

the surface of the earth

Front 3

The amount of time between maximum incoming energy and maximum temperature over the day is known as

Back 3

Daily temperature lag

Front 4

the amount of time between the highest incoming insolation and highest temperature on an annual basis.

Back 4

Seasonal temperature lag

Front 5

How do clouds impact air temperature?

Back 5

Clouds have a cooling effect as the relect of diffuse shortwave radiation from the sun. Clouds can also warm the atmosphere as they are good absorbers of longwave radiation.

Front 6

What can account for the large variations in temperature of desert regions?

Back 6

Cloudless skies allow shortwave radiation during the day to stream towards the earth's surface uninterrupted, while at night longwave raditaion passes through the atmosphere freely without being absorbed.

Front 7

What is the cause of sensible heat transfer? Why is there a temperature lag?

Back 7

The presence of a temperature gradient between the surface and the air. The temperature lag exists because it takes time for heat to transfer between the surface and the air.

Front 8

The impact of continental location on weather and climate characteristics of a place is called...

Back 8

Continentality

Front 9

Why is air temperature near or over bodies of water much different from that over land?

Back 9

due to differences in the way water and land heat and cool.

Front 10

Properties that effect water temperature are:

Back 10

1. Transparency
2. Allocation of Q*
3. Ability to circulate
4. Specific heat

Front 11

Explain the effect that transparency has on the relatively low temperature of a water body.

Back 11

Water allows light to penetrate to depth, leaving the surface layers cooler than they would be if the surface was opaque.A cooler water surface results in cooler air temperatures above.

Front 12

Explain how the allocation of Q* affects the differences in temperature between water and land.

Back 12

When radiant energy is absorbed by land, most of the net radiation is used for sensible heat transfer or ground heat transfer, only small amounts are used for latent heat transfer. Over water, much of the net radiation is used for evaporation. With little energy used for sensible heat transfer, air over water remains cooler than that over land.

Front 13

How does the fliud characteristic of water influence its temperature?

Back 13

Being a fluid, water is able to freely circulate. Surface water that has been warmed by the sun can mix with cooler water at depth, thus keeping the body of water cool.

Front 14

How does specific heat effect the differences in temperature between land and water?

Back 14

This means that it takes five times more energy to heat one gram of water than one gram of land. So if adjacent land and water receive the same amount of insolation, the water will warm much slower than land, and give up its heat much more slowly than land.

Front 15

How are seasonal temperature lags different for coastal locations compared to interior locations?

Back 15

They are longer, by about a month, for coastal locations than their interior counterparts.

Front 16

a vast pool of air, covering thousands of square kilometers, having about the same humidity and temperature characteristics over its horizontal extent.

Back 16

Air mass

Front 17

The influence that air masses have on the temperature of a place depends on...

Back 17

the location with respect to the source of the air mass and the trajectory of the air mass as it moves from its source region.

Front 18

lines connecting points of equal air temperature are used to map the spatial pattern of temperature

Back 18

Isotherms

Front 19

How do air masses influence the temperature of a place?

Back 19

if one is located in the heart of an air mass source region, your climate will be fairly uniform throughout the year. If the place is located in a boundary zone between air masses, a much more varied climate is likely.

Front 20

Overall, isotherms in the southern hemisphere tend to be more linear or run straight across the map. Why?

Back 20

The southern hemisphere is a more uniform surface, mostly water. Where there is land, isotherms take sudden swings over the surface.

Front 21

In the Northern Hemisphere the isotherms tend to be more wavy, dipping far to the south or north depending on season and location. Why?

Back 21

The northern hemisphere has much more land surface and the configuration of the isotherms reflect it. Isotherms dip far to the south in January as cold temperatures occupy the continental interiors and coastal locations stay more mild being influenced by the ocean.

Front 22

What accounts for the large variation in temperature at the high latitude regions?

Back 22

The movement of air masses and more varied sun angles. Cold air masses penetrate south dropping air temperatures during the winter months. During the summer, warm tropical air masses stream toward higher latitudes raising temperatures.

Front 23

Longitudinal patterns of temperature reflect the influence of...

Back 23

continentality and ocean circulation.

Front 24

The temperature range along the west coast of North America tends to be small due to...

Back 24

the constant influx on oceanic air

Front 25

What causes the large ranges in temperature of the interior of the North American continent?

Back 25

Warm air masses from the Gulf of Mexico work their way northward, especially during the summer. During the winter, cold continental polar air masses dominate.